Living despondently

All are aware of the fact that the present government has nearly completed three years of its tenure and all expected some sort of relief from what they have been facing for some years but to be honest, people have got no respite. Various claims of the government sound as optimistic as the election pledges; however, people, under the current situation, can be little optimistic. The present government came to power nearly three years back with explicit promises to bring a drastic change in the country. Possibly, the very first pledge was to keep the price of essentials in tune with the purchasing power of the common people. Now, what is going on --- tomato is more than Tk 100 per kg, rice is still more than Tk 40 per kg and so are the prices of other essentials. If I am not wrong, an unstable commodity market is one of the most-talked about topic in the country. Many have written about it, while many initiatives have been taken to contain the price hike of essentials which is the concern of mass people, but to no avail. Developing power sector was another important pledge, but what is happening in actuality? Instead of going for a permanent solution, the government went for quick-fixing option that is quick rental power which is slowly draining money due to increased oil import. To cope with the situation, the government has already re-fixed fuel oil prices thrice, compressed natural gas (CNG) price twice and power tariff twice. Another hike of power tariff and CNG price is impending. The government claimed that higher price of fuel oil in the international market had forced them to adjust price but the average per barrel price of oil in the international market has fallen. In such a situation, inflation is hitting hard while the taka is depreciating fast against the Us dollar. Inflation, according to a report published in a section of the media, has already touched 12 per cent. Economists expressed their concern as the economy might go beyond manageability with unbridled growth in inflation. Regrettably, the government is not worried at all as inflation is increasing in many countries. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the rate of inflation was 11.97 per cent (point-to-point or monthly count) in September, which was highest in the past 10 years. Food inflation jumped to 13.8 per cent in September from 12.7 per cent in the previous month. Worse still, the assumption on gas reserve has befuddled our planners but the government has not given much attention to finalise the coal mining policy, rather it is thinking to import coal for its proposed coal-based power plants. Again, hundreds of industrial units have been facing persisting gas crunch in the port city and of late, the government suggested owners or management of those units keeping operation off for six days. So, the gas crisis is increasing due to lack of proper forecasting. Now, let us look into some other pledges: i) One hundred per cent student enrolment at primary level by 2010; ii) Supply of pure drinking water for the entire population by 2011; iii) Self-sufficiency in food by 2012; iv) Each house to be brought under hygienic sanitation by 2013 etcetera. This is 2011 but 100 per cent enrolment at the primary level still seems elusive. Again, according to various reports, students' dropout rate at primary level is alarming. Thus, reality does not match with the pledge. Ensuring pure water for the entire population by 2011 seems absolutely impossible and moreover, the government will have to face daunting challenges in the coming days as the groundwater level is going down at an alarming rate. On the other hand, people need to treat the water supplied by WASA before drinking. Do we really know the exact population size of the country? The population size at times seems to be a puzzle. Data provided by government organisation does not match with that of NGOs or foreign development organisations. How would we achieve self sufficiency in food if the size of the population is not known? In the present context, bringing each house under sanitation is a far cry. One can only understand the reality if one collects data on slum dwellers that are in real threat of unhygienic condition. Another pledge that caught attention of the country's millions of people is "vision digital Bangladesh" but quite contrary to the vision, some websites of some government organisations are not updated regularly. Again, according to a television documentary, people face severe problems to collect their pension allowance in various DC offices as Officials still work manually. In most villages, so severe is the load shedding that people get electricity only for 5 to 10 hours every day and this is why; making the country digital would be a difficult task. For them who do not even get two square meals a day, "digital Bangladesh" is meaningless. Same is the situation, if the country achieves self sufficiency in food but one does not have enough purchasing power. People celebrated Eid only a few days ago but to their utter surprise, price of fuel has been increased and impending power tariff hike is going to hit them hard. Can anybody ensure, fuel price hike will not affect commodity market or transport fare? So, this is the time of no joy for mass people who are living despondently as price hike of all consumable items continues. It is uncertain when people will really get a stable commodity market or disciplined transport sector or uninterrupted power supply as pledged by the government. The writer can be reached at email: shafiqul0032@yahoo.com